Wednesday, September 17, 2008

I guess that means it's Autumn, then

Edinburgh kinda redeemed itself on Monday, by throwing an unexpected bucket of blackberries at us. Jeez. I hadn't had blackberries for aaages! Well, four weeks, I guess, but they don't count as they were grown deliberately in my gran's garden and don't taste like wild ones. So, I haven't had *wild* blackberries in any significant amounts for at least 10 years.

It was a really wet and grey day, but in the afternoon, a parcel from my mum arrived, which included this book. She'd let me borrow it after I suddenly got intrigued by rosehips - what's up with them? They're obviously edible, but nobody does!

The book is mostly about wild mushrooms and what to do with them, but it's also got a section on wild fruit (raspberries, blackberries, elderberries, some other stuff and... rosehips!). I leafed through it for a bit, and then, as so often, just had to try stuff *right away*. So I set off, totally the idiot hippie, in a skirt (obviously) and wellies, with Nils on my back and a bunch of bags under my arm. It was enormous fun, but carrying Nils on my back made me quite wobbly, so I had to forego some of the elderberries that were growing too far in the gorse. And then! Suddenly! I found myself in the biggest patch of blackberries I had seen for, well, 10 years! Nils was a bit suspicious at first, but soon I couldn't pick them quick enough for him.

We came home with three big bags of elderberries, and one each of blackberries and rosehips. The blackberries were mostly gobbled up on the night, but the rest was made into a lovely cobbler. The elderberries are currently being made into christmas secrets. The rosehips are waiting for some apples to be joined in some jam.